


Clue

by heygaymayday



Category: The Last of Us (Video Games)
Genre: Clueless Ellie (The Last of Us), F/F, Jackson Life, Oblivious Ellie (The Last of Us), Useless Lesbian Ellie (The Last of Us)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:14:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25984222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heygaymayday/pseuds/heygaymayday
Summary: Can't Cat and Dina just get along?
Relationships: Cat/Ellie (The Last of Us), Dina/Ellie (The Last of Us)
Comments: 26
Kudos: 282





	Clue

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, I've had a drink or two and this came to me, so please enjoy this one-shot, total fluff-piece involving Cat and Dina bickering over, like, nothing. Probably nothing. Definitely not Ellie. Right?

_**ELLIE.** _

The early morning light is spilling through the windows of her room and she’s already been up for hours. She’s still getting used to life here in Jackson, and sleep isn’t something that’s coming easy yet. She’s still getting used to being apart from Joel, though she would never admit that this was a matter of any difficulty. She preferred to maintain how cool it was, having her own space, basically her own little apartment--but the truth was that she often laid awake, listening for intruders--either at the door of her room, or up at the house, where Joel was sleeping. She worried about him more than she was willing to admit.

But this morning she was more concerned about getting to her group patrol on time. She was still proving herself to the others, and it seemed important, being on time--even if punctuality wasn’t always one of her finer virtues.

She pries her knife from where it’s buried, point down, on the surface of her night stand. Folds it closed, sticks it into the back pocket of her jeans. She doesn’t stop to look in the mirror, even though it’s there, in the corner. What she looks like--it doesn’t seem important. She can shoot, she can run, she can punch and stab--what else is there to worry about?

She shoulders into her backpack, starts to open the door--stops abruptly when she hears voices. She reaches back, feels for the shape of the knife in her pocket, just to make sure it’s there. She listens. The sound is muffled, but clearly coming from two people just outside the door.

“Okay, but I was here first, so--”

“By like _a second--”_

“A second is a second and I was here first, Dina--”

“Well, I’m not leaving, so--”

“We can’t _both_ be out here, that’s going to look fucking _insane--”_

“So go ahead and we’ll catch up with you--”

“ _You_ go ahead and we’ll catch up--”

“No, _you_ go ahead--”

“No, no-- _you_ go ahead--”

“You don’t even _like_ doing the patrols, you’re just trying to--”

“Maybe I _do_ like patrols now--”

“ _Please_ , you’re the biggest baby that’s ever lived--”

“ _Excuse me_ \--”

“You heard me--”

“I’d rather be a baby than a fucking gun-happy _psycho--_ ”

“Ohh, I haven’t even _begun_ to show you _psycho_ yet--”

Ellie pulls the door open, finds Cat and Dina standing on the sidewalk just outside. They both freeze, mid-conversation, look up at her with surprise. She stares between them, confused and waiting for an explanation as to what the fuck is going on.

“Hey,” Cat speaks up first, steps away from Dina, “I just thought we could, like, walk together this morning to--y’know, the patrol--”

“Yeah, _we_ , together, were just--thinking maybe you would like some company this morning or--” Dina says awkwardly, “--you know, it was...a joint effort, we didn’t just--this is normal. This is totally normal.”

“You guys…” Ellie says slowly, “You guys could just knock, you know…”

“I didn’t wanna wake you up,” Cat says, “Since I was here first and all. Before Dina. I was here before Dina.”

“Why...wouldn’t you want to wake me up?” Ellie asks, “We have to be at the patrol. I...like, _need_ to be up?”

“Yeah, Cat, why would you let her oversleep? Rude, if you ask me.”

“Shut up, _Dina,”_ Cat glares over at the other girl, “That’s not what I meant--”

“Okay, well--we’d better go,” Ellie says, adjusting her backpack, “Thanks for...walking with me? I guess? Both of you?”

“This is normal,” Dina reiterates, “We all, you know, walk each other to...to patrols, all the time. It’s fine.”

“Okay,” Ellie says, “Who’s walking with Jesse this morning?” 

“He’s fine,” Dina says with a wave of her hand, “C’mon, let’s go--oh, Cat, unless you think it’s a better idea to let everyone oversleep a little longer…?”

“Get off it, Dina,” Cat says, “You’re just--”

“ _Guys,”_ Ellie says pointedly, “We _have_ to go.”

She pulls the door closed behind her, steps down between them.

She doesn’t care how many times Dina says it--this does _not_ seem normal.

\--

Ellie’s walking alongside Jesse, down one of the trails that leads into the rolling hillside outside Jackson, and they’re both watching Dina and Cat. The girls are a little ways ahead on the trail, and they haven’t stopped bickering for, like, even a second since their patrol began.

“Why are you walking so close?” Dina asks, takes a step away from Cat, “Do you want me to hold your hand for you, too?”

“You fucking _wish_ ,” Cat says, “I’m not even walking that close--”

“You’re fucking _close_ , like, you have no sense of personal boundaries--”

“Oh, do you want to talk about personal boundaries--”

“I don’t, actually--”

“We can talk about personal boundaries, because _you_ have absolutely no clue--”

“If there’s anyone here who needs a clue, it’s _you--”_

“Ha! I have plenty of goddamn clues, thanks--”

“If you have so many clues, then why are you following around everyone _else’s_ clues, huh?”

“What the fuck--it’s not my fault that some of us have _too_ many clues. You can’t just go around claiming _all_ the goddamn clues, Dina. How many _clues_ does one person need?”

“I’m not _claiming_ any clues, I’m just _saying--_ ”

“You need so much damned validation that you won’t be happy until there are no more _clues_ left for anybody else--”

"Maybe I just want to hang out with _this_ clue--"

"Oh, yeah, the really cute new _clue_ , you just wanna hang out and be her friend, okay, Dina--"

"Really cute and kind of a little scary, but like, in a good way? Right? But sure--yes, I just wanna hang out and get to know--um, the _clue--"_

"Well, I don't fucking believe you, so--"

Jesse and Ellie listen and watch with deep, profound confusion.

“I don’t think _clue r_ eally means _clue,_ ” Jesse says slowly, leaning over to Ellie.

“I don’t think so, either,” Ellie says, slowly chews a piece of dried beef jerky, “I don’t know what it _does_ mean though.”

“What the hell did you do to them?” Jesse asks.

“Me?” Ellie says around her mouthful of jerky, “I didn’t do shit to them. I’m just back here minding my own business.”

“Yeah, no, this is definitely your fault,” He says, “They were _not_ like this before.”

“ _WHY ARE YOU BREATHING SO HARD--”_ Cat demands to know.

“I’M JUST GODDAMN BREATHING, CAT, LIKE A HUMAN PERSON--”

“You mean this isn’t normal?” Ellie asks.

“No,” Jesse says, thoroughly entertained by the unfolding chaos, “Definitely _not.”_

“Dina kept saying it was _normal.”_

“Yeah, well, she hasn’t stopped talking about you since you got here, so--”

“What--?” Ellie asks, immediately chokes on the jerky.

“You might wanna slow down on that stuff, man,” Jesse says as Ellie coughs, trying to get a breath of air, “You’re--”

“Ellie, are you okay?” Cat asks, jogging back toward Jesse and Ellie with concern.

“She’s fine,” Dina says, just behind Cat, “Give her some fucking space, stalker--”

“I’m not a stalker, I’m just asking--it’s called having a fucking _heart_ , but I guess you wouldn’t know much about that--”

Dina laughs but somehow the sound is distinctly threatening, and Jesse seems to take this as his cue to lay a calming hand on her arm.

“ _Oh my god, I'm gonna smack her, Jesse,_ ” Dina says under her breath, voice a little high-pitched and manic, and Jesse urges Dina back, away from Cat and Ellie.

“No," He says in a hushed voice, “No, you gotta calm down, bud.”

"No, I think I'm gonna do it," Dina says, "Just once, Jesse, get out of the way--"

"No, Dina," Jesse says patiently, "Dina--Dina, no--"

"Just let her go, Jesse," Cat says, "It's not like she could sneak up on me--I'd hear her LOUD FUCKING BREATHING LIKE A MILE AWAY--"

Dina gives a forced laugh, "OH MY GOD YOU'RE SO FUNNY AT LEAST MY HEAD ISN'T SHAPED LIKE A FUCKING MELON--"

"YOU KNOW I'M SENSITIVE ABOUT MY HEAD-SHAPE, DINA--"

Ellie, nearly forgotten in the scuffle, finally regains her breath and straightens up. 

“Shit,” She says, “Wow, that--was a close one, but I’m...I’m fine, in case anyone was still wondering...”

But the two girls are still arguing, with Jesse in between them, arms held out to keep the fight from escalating. 

" _What did you do?"_ He mouths at Ellie with something like real concern now.

Ellie shrugs, reaches for another piece of jerky.


End file.
